Long battles versus short fights
My 2009 Happy New Year blurb.
Bond ubiquity and the compliance of the “alternative press”
On November 19th I began writing a review of the brilliant documentary No More Smoke Signals (pictured) for Art Threat. We had just had a fabulous screening of the film, with the director present, at Cinema Politica here in Montreal, and I was (and continue to be) frustrated at the compliance of so-called “alternative” arts and culture publications in the 24-7 promotion of mainstream cinema crapola. The Bond film was everywhere, and actually, a peruse through our neighbourhood magazine shop yesterday has revealed that this Bond BS is STILL permeating…read more
Gimme Some docs
Whew!! Writing from extremely cold cold cold Winnipeg where snow is on the ground and chill is in the bones. I’m here for the Gimme Some Truth documentary project – a film festival and conference happening in the city between November 6th and 9th. Myself and Tom Waugh were asked to come and speak about Challenge for Change as we approach the final editing stages of our book on the same subject. It’s been nice to see some of the people from the IMAA conference I attended in Kelowna last…read more
Ezra and Svetla in the Montreal Mirror
Patrick Lejetnyi interviewed us a while back and the fruits of his labour are published in this week’s Montreal Mirror. Rachel Granofsky also took a great photo of us (to the left) where we look some dorky art couple (OK I look dorky), but nevertheless, it’s a great photo. All this promo is to help kick off our 5th anniversary and 10th edition of Cinema Politica Concordia. Let’s hope it pays off! Check out the article: Celluloid Politics: Cinema Politica celebrates five years of free, weekly and controversial screenings. And…read more
Help my friend Rajesh make an important documentary
A friend of mine, Rajesh Thind, is a UK-based documentary filmmaker who is making a documentary about the socio-political challenges faced by rural people in India. Below is an excerpt from his description of “Twelve Acres,” after you read it, please consider helping him out by donating a few bucks through the Chip In widget above. Thanks all. Twelve Acres — that’s the amount of Punjabi farmland that I will inherit from my 70 year old father when he dies. The film will document my attempt to figure out what…read more
Svetla and yours truly try to explain what it is we do at Cinema Politica
Concordia prof, activist, filmmaker and friend Liz Miller recently finished her documentary on the privatization of Highland Park’s water services in Detroit, Michigan, called The Water Front. We screened the film this past February 4th at the Concordia Cinema Politica. As the 600 or so audience members filed into the H-110 Auditorium, Liz and her assistant interviewed Svetla and myself on grassroots organizing of cinema screenings. The resulting short video actually makes it seem like we know what we’re talking about, so yes, we’re proud.
December Snow
It’s a beautiful evening in Montreal, a light dusting of snow is muting our street and probably the city. I’ve been snowed in here for the last two weeks writing two papers to finish up my term. The first one, on cinematic representations of female suicide bombers, is done and sent to the prof. The second one, on the history of cultural industry theory, is about to envelope me. Sound exciting? At least it’s snowing… Also, Wal-Town The Film was just broadcast twice on Canada’s third largest broadcast network, TVO…read more
Finally, the media gets it (almost) right
The Montreal Mirror printed a story today about a recent screening of a Cinema Politica film at Concordia that I helped organize. While the piece does make me sound like some raving, volatile activist freak, hats off to Patrick Ljtenyi, for printing my quote on the ILLEGAL OCCUPATION of Palestinian land by the Israeli government. It’s the first time any media has had the chutzpah to include the descriptor “illegal” in my quote. Shalom! From the Mirror (it’s short, so instead of linking, I’m reprinting…hopefully they don’t sue me): ConU…read more
Wal-Town is number two!
Just a quick hurrah: it seems that right now the documentary on the project I helped create – Wal-Town – is the number two most purchased/ordered NFB film in the educational division. This means that across Canada, teachers and librarians are ordering many, many copies of Wal-Town The Film. This is amazing news, both for Sergeo Kirby, the director, and for the gang of us who put the project into action. We always thought the film was an important aspect of reaching a wider audience, and now it seems we’re…read more
Exhausted and Departing
A journalist for Uptown Magazine in Winnipeg interviewed me recently about our upcoming WAL-TOWN TOUR 2007 and asked me what we wanted to accomplish with this campaign and whether we are anti Wal-Mart. I answered: We are anti Wal-Mart. If Wal-Mart was a corporation that supported it’s employee’s rights to organize, if they were accountable to the citizens in the towns they move into instead of only to their shareholders, if they had progressive environmental policies that were sustainable, if they weren’t the largest retail force on the planet that…read more